| TheLivingShadow said: Well apparently nobody wanted to have a go at my statements before. The guy who I responded to chose to ignore my message. Oh well. First off, KungKras, you're awesome for having read Sam Harris Landscape book. It is quite well done. I kind of agree with you on the invaluability of human "mentally capable" life, except when compared to other human "mentally capable" lives. Of course, all other things being equal, the lives of two people are better than the life of one. |
^_^
I lean towards greather quantities of sentient life being more valuable than smaller quantities as well. Except it get complicated when you pit the lives of two dictators against a farmer in china.
I didn't read the middle of the thread, so I didn't see the early discussions. Anyway, since the other people refused, I'll have a go at the statements.
1. There's nothing special about life in general.
Disagree. Chemically speaking, there is a lot that makes life special. Its rarity in the universe also makes it special. And when we begin talking about sentient life, the special meter goes through the roof.
2. The consumption and use of animals and plants, but especially animals, by humans is not morally wrong.
I'm torn on this. I'm convinced that cows and cats and the like have some form of conciousness, thus making them invaluable. But I wouldn't fault a tiger for killing a deer.
3. All life dies and there is nothing after life (i.e. no Heaven, Hell, or anything)
Seems to be the most likely
I believe from saying True to all these three statements, through reasonable logic you arrive at:c
4. There's nothing wrong with pre-selection of humans under the condition that it's only done on consideration of mental ability.
I'll go farther than that. If the child is to be born into poverty, and the mother got accidentally pregnant and having a child would have serious ramifications for her life, I see no problem with her aborting it before it develops a mesurable brain activity and thus becomes an irreplacable person.
I LOVE ICELAND!
